Bombay High Court has refused to give an interim stay on the construction of Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai.

Mumbai, November 2: The Bombay High Court has refused to give an interim stay on the construction of Chhatrapati Shivaji statue in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai. Yesterday, the Maharashtra government told the court that it was considering levying charges on visitors of the proposed statue to recover part of the Rs 3,600 crore project cost.

Senior counsel VA Thorat, appearing for the state government told the bench the government had examined every aspect, including safety and environmental issues, before beginning work on the project. He further said a disaster management and evacuation plan was also in place.

However, under the newly-proposed plan, the height of the sculpture has been reduced to 75.7 metres, and the length of the sword raised to 45.5 metres, maintaining the statue height of 121.2 metres. In June this year, the government entered into an agreement with Larsen and Toubro for the project. It will take approximately 36 months to build the statue.